‘The Diplomat’ Season 2 Finale Explained: Will Kate Become Vice President?

• The death of a major character at the end of The Diplomat’s second season poses a challenge to the series.
• Keri Russell’s titular diplomat, Kate Wyler, now faces a tougher path to becoming vice president.
• Warning: Major spoilers ahead for season two of The Diplomat.

Netflix’s The Diplomat is an incredibly fun political drama that leans into the melodrama of international politics. Just like the first season, the second season ends with another cliffhanger season finale.

The series follows “The Americans” star Keri RussellBritish Ambassador Kate Wyler, a brash career diplomat, has been appointed US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Upon arrival, she must deal with the aftermath of an attack on a British aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

However, her diplomatic assignment serves a secondary purpose: the White House is preparing her for the potential inauguration of the new vice president, as a scandal looms over the current president’s head that will force her to resign.

The series is directed by “The West Wing” and Homeland veteran Deborah Kahn act like familiar soapy political drama. And it’s clearly resonating with viewers—it racked up more than 214 million hours watched in the first half of 2023, according to Netflix. It is also a player on the awards scene, gaining popularity. Golden Globe And Emmy nominations for the first season.

The second season will be released just a few days before US electionsand delves into Kate’s secondary goal in London. While unraveling the conspiracy behind the plane attack, she also has to contend with Vice President Grace Penn (an excellent Allison Janney) appears in London. By the end of the season, Kate and Grace become acquainted with each other, but developments in the series finale fundamentally change their relationship.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the Season 2 finale of The Diplomat.

A major death in the season finale throws Grace and Kate into chaos.

Kate learns that the attack on an aircraft carrier carried out by a Russian mercenary was a false flag. Right-wing figure Margaret Roelin admits to Conservative Party Prime Minister Nicholas Trowbridge, whom she had previously advised, that she orchestrated the entire incident to help the United Kingdom rally around Trowbridge – and in particular to prevent Scottish succession. However, the attack is much more serious than expected, killing British sailors, and Trowbridge reacts with extreme rage and attempts to strangle Roylin with his own hands.

Meanwhile, Kate warms up to Grace Penn, the vice president, upon her arrival in London. After seeing Grace interact with Trowbridge, Kate decides to stop competing for the vice presidency and invites Grace to remain in her position. Her husband Hal prevents her from doing this and reveals devastating information: it was not Roylin who planned the attack on the aircraft carrier, but Grace Penn.

In the season finale, Kate signals to Grace that she knows her involvement in the incident. In turn, Grace explains that she had no other choice. Like Roylin, she wanted to prevent Scottish secession, but for different reasons.

Scotland, Grace explains, is home to the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons and the only place in Europe where the United States can dock its own nuclear submarines. This base, Creegan, would be the first European target in a nuclear war with Russia, Grace explains, and if Scotland seceded, the country would quickly close it down.

Similar stories

Kate understands Grace’s reasoning, but decides to report her actions to the State Department. She instructs her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) to tell the Secretary of State on her behalf so that her record will be clear when she takes over as vice president. When Kate assures Grace that she won’t tell anyone – and that she has given up seeking the vice-presidential position – Hal breaks ranks and skips the Secretary of State to go straight to President William Rayburn.

This backfires because Hal’s revelation is so upsetting that the elderly President dies on the spot. Hal barely manages to warn Kate over the phone before the Secret Service rushes onto the lawn to pick up Grace, the new President of the United States.

“I got chills and threw the script across the room and thought, ‘What the fuck?’ – said Jenny. Vanity Fair graduation. “It was the best moment I’ve ever had reading a script.”

The VP position is open, but it may not be Kate’s.

Luckily for us, The Diplomat has already been renewed for a third season, which is already filming in New York. Russell told Rolling Stone that she had already read the entire third season.

“It’s so good that I want it to be good and I just can’t believe it’s getting better,” she said.

Now that Grace is president, the vice president position is wide open, but it doesn’t necessarily go to Kate.

According to the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution: “Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of Vice President, the President shall appoint a Vice President, who shall assume office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. “

As you can imagine, Kate and Grace are not on the best terms. Shortly before learning of the President’s death, Grace told Kate in no uncertain terms that she needed to give up her job. And of course Kate threw Grace under the bus via Hal. However, this crisis resulted in Grace not only keeping her job, but also getting a promotion – so perhaps, in a roundabout way, Kate’s stunt generated some goodwill.

Ultimately, the season two finale comes as a bit of a surprise considering it premiered five days before the US presidential election. It’s easy to wonder if President Joe Biden’s ageon my own important question before he dropped out of the race influenced the series’ characterization of President Rayburn. The second season was written and filmed while Biden was still the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee and Kamala Harris was the inspiration for Grace’s character, Vanity Fair reports.

However, the timing and circumstances were a little strange.

“It’s a little scary because we didn’t want to really do something that was ‘rip off the headlines,’” Kang, the showrunner, told Deadline. “The idea is always to find a way into the space of the country and the audience, and what we’re all thinking about right now, particularly the world of foreign policy.”

The second season of The Diplomat is streaming in its entirety on Netflix.